He grew up as a Chelsea fan, stood in the stands, he was even a ball boy at Stamford Bridge!

He'd play for Chelsea for free if they asked him.

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I remember seeing him when he was playing for a good team and him listing Dennis wise as one of his footballing heroes/..... ilost a little respect but he's still "gold"................I miss our good team

As much as Aguero's performance today lead to us only getting a draw, if it convinces Abramovich to give Atletico what they want in January then his two goals today will be more than worth it.

I've been a bit worried about him being quite lightweight and not up to the physical nature of England. Tonight though he showed his technique is as good as it get's, meaning he can compensate for his lack of strength, and his strength will improve naturally with age and the more he plays in the stronger league.

The only thing it seems Chelsea are worried about is that he won't be able to play in the second half of the Champions League, so what? It's very possible we won't be able to buy players for 18 months so we have to buy now to plan for 2 years down the line.

Villa wants to leave, from what I've read in multiple Spanish and English papers. Apparently he sacked his agent for not getting him off the sinking ship that is Valencia fast enough. Word has it that he's desperate for Arsenal but Chelsea or United could be in for him. No word about Liverpool though, going from Valencia to Liverpool is a significant downgrade looking at the current status of both teams.

Aguero will go wherever his stepdad tells him go, because his stepdad happens to be his national team boss. Will that be Chelsea? I hope so.

If not, there's always Hamsik and Lavezzi! I'm sure Roman can get those two for cheap!

Villa wants to leave, from what I've read in multiple Spanish and English papers. Apparently he sacked his agent for not getting him off the sinking ship that is Valencia fast enough. Word has it that he's desperate for Arsenal but Chelsea or United could be in for him. No word about Liverpool though, going from Valencia to Liverpool is a significant downgrade looking at the current status of both teams.

Aguero will go wherever his stepdad tells him go, because his stepdad happens to be his national team boss. Will that be Chelsea? I hope so.

If not, there's always Hamsik and Lavezzi! I'm sure Roman can get those two for cheap!

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All true, Villa keeps rejecting Chelsea though and he has done for the past 3 or so years. As much as I think he'd be great, it's highly unlikely he'll come.

Aguero is a possibility but the thing stopping it in the summer was his £200,000 a week wage demands because of the 50% tax band he would be in if he played in England. Things have changed since then with Atletico having a poor season and Spain planning on introducing a very similar tax band to the one we have in England, meaning he wouldn't be richer in Spain.

Either way, we are going to have to really go big when you think it's possible we can't buy again for the rest of this season OR any of next. If we could get Aguero, De Rossi and Adam Johnson i'd be happy, Hamsik's goals make him a possible replacement for Lampard in the long run if he can be here long enough to learn from him, another reason why he needs to be here as early as possible.. 2011 will be too late and he will of probably moved on to another top team by then anyway.

And Breaker, what happened to "City for the top 4"? Hey, atleast your lot scored against Burnley, even United couldn't do that!

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Still a game in hand on Spuds, Villa, and Liverpool and only 11 games in so still hopeful. Our best player has been injured since the second game of the season so when he returns hopefully Hughes will get away from this boring 4-4-2 he's been using since the second half of the derby.

I only caught the 2nd half. In terms of the game played, it wasn't all that good. Fouls and players falling everywhere, with insane calls. None of that flair, shots and such I love to see. Evans left his mark on Drogba, literally. I would think the ref would have checked with his linesman to get a better judgement call. That was just ugly. Terry, nice header ftw.

Il Capitano! For the past 18 months John Terry has defended the best he ever has, when he received all the plaudits in 2004 he was scoring every other week. Now he doesn't score as much but he is back as the best central defender on the planet and I was so pleased for him that he got that flick on.

Man Utd played a great game, it was almost a 6-4-0 formation with Giggs and Valencia playing as virtual wingbacks to man-mark Ivanovic and Ashley Cole, plus Rooney coming back to midfield every chance he got to croud things even further. You can't really blame them for trying to man-mark every Chelsea player and park the bus.. I thought this was an interesting passage from an article about the game:

"Oh the irony.

Carlo Ancelotti might be the Italian, but it was Sir Alex Ferguson who employed the catenaccio style made famous by the Azzurri as he tried to give his side the best chance of getting a result in this pivotal Premier League match.

In the end that still wasn't enough, however, as Ancelotti's resilient Chelsea edged a game where two great sides struggled to contain each other."

So, Liverpool spent 20 million on a midfielder who doesn't run, can't make any kind of pass besides basic lateral ones that have no impact on the match whatsoever, and isn't ever in the right position? Great buy, Rafa.

So, Liverpool spent 20 million on a midfielder who doesn't run, can't make any kind of pass besides basic lateral ones that have no impact on the match whatsoever, and isn't ever in the right position? Great buy, Rafa.

So, Liverpool spent 20 million on a midfielder who doesn't run, can't make any kind of pass besides basic lateral ones that have no impact on the match whatsoever, and isn't ever in the right position? Great buy, Rafa.

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Let's not forget a right back who can't defend.

Beauty of a goal from Jerome for Brum though. Hart played well too bad the scousers are cheating divers.

He was KK's understudy at Mochengladbach. He also featured for Benfica if I'm not mistaken?

Either way, sad to see him go. Just read up on his story on the BBC a few minutes ago, I feel awful for his wife!

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Yep, he played for a good number of clubs, Barcelona included. He was pretty much Germany's number 1 for the past few years and had a good chance of keeping the position for the World Cup (although they do have good young keepers like Neuer, Adler etc..)

It's really sad for his wife as you say, they had only recently adopted a baby after a child they had died on them a few years ago.

Yep, he played for a good number of clubs, Barcelona included. He was pretty much Germany's number 1 for the past few years and had a good chance of keeping the position for the World Cup (although they do have good young keepers like Neuer, Adler etc..)

It's really sad for his wife as you say, they had only recently adopted a baby after a child they had died on them a few years ago.

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Barcelona as well? I'll be damned.

Germany's chances in South Africa have just taken another hit (Jermaine Jones' deciding to suit up for his true country not withstanding). Who else could play keeper for them? Adler is too inexperienced, Neuer is WAY too young, Lehman is retired, etc... They should have Oliver Kahn come out of retirement just for this tournament :lol:

The groups aren't out yet (I keep hearing December 2nd though!) and nor are the seedings but this just deepens my hunch that Germany won't get past the Quarter Finals this time around.

Yeah the groups are done in around a month, that's when you know it's getting really close! As for Germany, they always manage to do well whatever squad they have. Ballack, as good as he is for Chelsea, becomes unstoppable when he plays a big tournament for Germany.. he did it in 2002, 2006 and then again in Euro 2008.

There's just something about the German's where you can't write them off, they weren't a great team in 2008 yet they still made it to the final and lost a close game. The climate should suit them aswell and if all else fails, they can always grind it out to a shoot-out and they're golden

Bad week for keepers, Cudicini severely injured on his motorbike -- could be the end of his career.

Looks like 'arry's raid of Pompey will be complete with the need of replacing a keeper, James seems nailed on to go to Spuds after this.

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He was pretty much semi-retired anyway. I suppose it's a small mercy it happened when he was 36 and not just starting off in his career, let's hope he'll make a good recovery and it won't have any long term effects on his normal day-to-day life.

Ben Foster starts for England now? For some reason, I can't see England hoisting the World Cup next summer with a guy who can't even get the #1 spot at his own club start for a prestigious national team like England.

What the hell happened to David James? Thought he was a shoe-in for the starting spot in South Africa next summer? :lol:

Ben Foster starts for England now? For some reason, I can't see England hoisting the World Cup next summer with a guy who can't even get the #1 spot at his own club start for a prestigious national team like England.

What the hell happened to David James? Thought he was a shoe-in for the starting spot in South Africa next summer? :lol:

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James will be especially once he goes to Spuds. The other two based on form for their club SHOULD BE Green/Robinson or Green/Hart. For some reason even though Foster is clearly a calamity keeper and at one point this season was number 3 behind Kusczak or however you spell it at United, Capello feels he deserves more of a chance than deserving keepers who are #1 at their club in Robinson and Hart.

And Wes Brown..if he gets anywhere near the international team Capello needs his head examined.

David James is a joke. He's not worthy of being GK for the World Cup. Green, Hart and Robinson are all clowns.

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Hell yes. If any of these guys were American, they'd get nowhere near the national team. None of those guys hold a candle to the young guns we've got like Dom Cervi or Brad Guzan, let alone to legends like Fridel, Hanemann, Howard, or Keller.

The cupboard really is bare at the moment, we might aswell go for someone with an eye on the future.

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But the future is even more bare! England should just take one of our uncapped-at-the-senior-level U20s or U17 players and offer them citizenship and let them play for England. We have too many quality keepers for just three spots in South Africa.